There’s only 1 week until Christmas! How’s everyone doing this Holiday Season? Me, I’m doing the whole “hurry up and relax!” routine. Trying to close out all projects so I can think about maybe perhaps taking a wee bit of a break.
Not sure if this is helpful or not, but for anyone who is interested I’ve added a “News” section to the menu bar above ⬆️. [Booze—Wine—News] So you can easily access all my posts that are ‘news’ related.
Speaking of news, of course I have your weekly round up here. All good stuff, but a few of my favs:
- Meininger’s Wine Business International: What fresh hell is this? Wine that tastes of cookies?
- Randy Caparoso: Are Wine Consumers Stupid?
- Eater: QR Codes Are Here to Stay… but They Kinda Suck
If anything, the titles alone make me giggle.
Have fun everyone—Merry almost Christmas!
Meininger’s Wine Business International: What fresh hell is this? Wine that tastes of cookies?
Robert Joseph shares his thoughts on the coming together in a bottle of the world’s biggest wine and cookie brands.
The idea of Barefoot and Oreos getting together to produce a wine that ‘tastes like chocolate’, attracted a lot of media interest across a broad range of platforms and publications such as USA Today, Fox News and Food & Wine and raised a few of hackles on social media. A Reddit user called The_StonedPanda probably voiced a widely held view when he or she noted that “Nobody asked for this and if you did you don’t actually enjoy wine.” Another contributor to the same thread – 2sleezy – likened Barefoot-Oreo Thins unfavourably to Pizza Hut’s ’cheeseburger pizza’.
On the other hand, Theresa Massony, Senior Living Editor at POPSUGAR evidently rather enjoyed Barefoot-Oreos. READ MORE…
Randy Caparoso: Are Wine Consumers Stupid?
No—Wine Consumer Preferences Are a Reflection of the Industry
The wine industry—not just wine producers, but also distributors, retailers, restaurants, media, and anyone else who has anything to do with pushing wine on consumers—has a history of selling crap to consumers. All for the sake of the almighty dollar. READ MORE…
Eater: QR Codes Are Here to Stay… but They Kinda Suck
QR code menus gained popularity during the pandemic. Now, operators must decide whether the tradeoffs are worth it.
I keep forgetting. I’ll sit down to dinner and wait for a server to come by, and after a time I’ll start to crane my neck out and make eye contact. I am one of those people who will bend over backward to forgive what is generally considered “bad service,” because service work is exhausting and frantic and I know I have the privilege of even being served. But after a while it’s like, c’mon, I do need a menu. And then when the server arrives asking if I’ve decided what I want, I’ll remember, oh right, the menu isn’t a menu anymore. It’s this pixelated square sitting on the table. READ MORE…
Wine Enthusiast: ‘This Problem Will Only Get Worse’: Wine Regions Grapple with Labor Market, Supply Chain
In addition to ongoing supply chain tensions, the global wine industry now faces seasonal labor shortages with higher wages. Tensions are especially high in regions that rely on international workforces, some of whom are unable to travel due to pandemic-related restrictions.
From January 2021 onwards until now, rates for contracted seasonal workers in New Zealand increased by 22% per vine, including Managed In Quarantine (MIQ) costs associated with the risk that activities like pruning may not be done in time. READ MORE…
Wine-Searcher: Champagne Shortage Starts to Bite
The much-vaunted Champagne drought of 2021 is real – and it’s starting to show in the retail sector.
Year on year, Champagne offers have declined by 6.4 percent since December 15, 2021. That number is all the more concerning for Champagne producers given that the figures for the previous years had shown the number of Champagne offers had grown by 40 percent between 2017 and 2020.
The so-called drought appears to be the result of Champagne becoming a victim of its own massive growth and the fickleness of the post-Covid wine market. READ MORE…
Eater: The Viral TikTok Recipes Causing Food Shortages
Supply chain disruptions were a theme of 2021, but thanks to viral recipes, some ingredients were hit especially hard
I learned a hard lesson on a recent trip to my local Asian supermarket, Tan A. There, in a refrigerated display between the puffed tofu and quail eggs, gaped a hole where the Kewpie mayo would usually be found. Where were my beloved plastic-wrapped bottles with the eponymous little cherub? I wondered in a mild panic. When I found the shopkeeper and asked him where the Kewpie was, he threw his hands up in disgust: “Sold out! TikTok!” he yelled before shuffling away. READ MORE…
Press Democrat: Sonoma, Napa wineries bullish on premium chardonnay market
In the wine world, cabernet sauvignon has been described as the king of the grape varietals while chardonnay is known as the queen.
But the queen has been a little neglected in the overall conversation within the wine industry between the skyrocketing prices for cult cab out of Napa Valley and the fandom of pinot noir from such areas as the Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley. READ MORE…
Science Daily: Stress, by itself, can lead to excessive drinking in women but not men
Study shows stress led to drinking more than intended in men only when they already had consumed alcohol
A new study that has important implications for the understanding of sex differences in alcohol consumption has shown that stress alone leads to excessive drinking in women but not men. The study used a simulated bar environment to test how stress affected whether participants drank more than intended. READ MORE…
Phys Org: Wine—New and old vs emerging and established
For decades, the primary division in the world of wine was between the “Old World” of European wines and the “New World” of North America, Australia ND New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere. There is a need to update this for the modern age where emerging nations are creating products to compete in the global market with the old vanguard.
VinePair: Can Boxed Wine Get Some Love?
In this episode of the “VinePair Podcast,” hosts Adam Teeter, Joanna Sciarrino, and Zach Geballe discuss alternative packaging for wine. Can bag-in-box wine — a product that has inspired a longtime drinking game — and boxed wine reign supreme over bottled options?
Boxed wine has often stood in the face of bias, but trends coming out of the pandemic suggest a shift. To cap off the episode, our hosts try Franzia boxed wine, America’s leading domestic wine brand. READ MORE…
Wine-Searcher: Fire Threatens Wineries in Western Australia
Numerous wineries in Margaret River were evacuated this week after bushfires in the nearby Boranup and Yallingup forests threatened vineyards, campgrounds, businesses and homes in the area. Fires in Boranup came particularly close to Mr Barval Fine Wines, which lies at the northern end of the forest.
Mr Barval’s neighbors include the high-profile Cape Mentelle, Leeuwin, and Voyager Estate vineyards – among numerous other producers in the Witchcliffe area, just 10km (six miles) south of Margaret River town. One insider confirmed Cape Mentelle had evacuated staff on Thursday – a precaution repeated across homes, businesses and wineries throughout the region
On Friday morning emergency bushfire warnings were still in place although the threat from the fire to those around Witchcliffe had abated with the prevailing wind pushing the fire away from the vineyards. This, though, threatened the township of Borunup in the center of the forest.
Another bushfire at Yallingup, some 35km (22 miles) north of Margaret River also threatened vineyards in the area, with numerous small wineries in the emergency zone. As of going to press, despite widespread forest devastation, the regional fire brigade reports the blaze is under control and weather conditions are mild. READ MORE…
Wine Industry Advisor: PET Bottles—The Future of Wine Packaging
Between supply chain issues, sustainability initiatives, and an increase in the DtC market space, producers are investing in the light-weight alternative wine bottle.
The bottle from Oregon’s Distaff Wine Co. looks like a wine bottle, complete with an Amcor STELVIN® closure. The catch? It weighs just 2.3 ounces—as much as one-tenth the weight of a typical glass bottle—and is made with PET recycled plastic.
In other words, something that wine producers have never really embraced, despite a couple of high-profile attempts over the past decade or so. So, what’s different this time?
“It has been bugging us for a while, how much waste there is with glass bottles,” says Distaff’s Moira O’Reilly. “So, we decided to jump on the train with our first four wines and use PET.” READ MORE…
NPR: Sula Vineyards makes wine in India’s unlikely terroir
You may have heard of India’s famous beer, Kingfisher. But wine? In the tropics? With spicy curries? Sula Vineyards is India’s leading winemaker. READ OR LISTEN HERE…
PennLive: Where did the lanternflies go? Pa. public reports down 50 percent in 2021
The last of the lanternflies in Pennsylvania disappeared with the onset of frost a month ago.
It was another summer and fall where residents across eastern and central parts of the Commonwealth and several adjacent states saw them flying outside entrances or maybe into their plate or drink if they happened to be dining outside.
They also remained an issue for some vineyards and orchards, with a portion of that problem shifting to New Jersey and a few other states. READ MORE…
Blogs Worth a Read
Taken from the list of Blogs and other media outlets I follow regularly, here are just a few posts from this past week I think are worth a read. Shoot me a note if you have suggestions of independent media to follow or want your outlet included on that list.
VinoJoy News: Here are WINWSA’s 50 most influential women in wine and spirts
The Women in Wine and Spirits Awards (WINWSA) has unveiled their much anticipated annual list of 50 most influential women in today’s drinks industry. Find out who they are here.
Science & Wine: Towards sustainable viticulture: The combination of deficit irrigation strategies and agroecological practices in Mediterranean vineyards. A review and update
Fortunately, the interest in more sustainable and holistic approaches in viticulture (including organic, biodynamic, and agroforestry farming systems) is growing. Alternative farming systems place special emphasis on the health of the whole agroecosystem, with a strong focus on the preservation of biodiversity, soil fertility, and soil biological activity, by supporting the soil microorganisms and using good agroecological farming practices.
In recent years, a considerable effort has been made in Mediterranean vineyards to develop and optimize efficient irrigation techniques and deficit irrigation (DI) strategies (e.g. Regulated Deficit Irrigated, RDI) that require moderate/low water volumes, in order to improve berry quality and water use efficiency (WUE) quality in vineyards in semiarid areas, with successful results. However, we have less experience of efficient soil management in deficit-irrigated vineyards and we know little about the best sustainable soil management practices for improving long-term soil fertility and quality under deficit irrigated semiarid conditions. READ MORE…
Nielsen: How brands can adapt to the changing face of targeting
For any brand, regardless of industry or region, consumers should be priority No. 1. It’s true that sales are any company’s end goal, but sales—and generating them—depend on consumers who are receptive to what a brand has to offer. And when it comes to brand building, marketers need to be able to drive engagement, awareness and consideration among people who aren’t already customers. READ MORE…
bw166: TTB Approved 178.8K Products L12M through November 2021, An Increase of 15.8K (+9.7%)
By Category:
- Beer: 43.2K products approved over the L12M (+11.5% vs. last year) and 10.8K over the L3M (+13.8% vs. last year)
- Spirits: 22.1K products approved over the L12M (+22.8% vs. last year) and 5.6K over the L3M (+10.3% vs. last year)
- Wine: 113.5K products approved over the L12M (+6.8% vs. last year) and 23K over the L3M (–6.2% vs. last year)
By Origin:
- Domestic: 97.1K products approved over the L12M (+8.2% vs. last year) and 21.2K over the L3M (+2.2% vs. last year)
- Imports: 81.7K products approved over the L12M (+11.6% vs. last year) and 18.3K over the L3M (–0.8% vs. last year)
FIND OUT MORE…
Press Releases
These are some press releases I received this week that I actually thought were interesting…enjoy!
Fetzer Vineyards: Fetzer Vineyards Achieves Regenerative Organic Certification™ for Winery and 100% of Estate Vineyards
Fetzer Vineyards, the largest winery in the U.S. certified as a B Corporation and a leader in regenerative winegrowing, announced it has achieved Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) for all of its Mendocino County vineyard holdings and winery. Fetzer Vineyards is the world’s largest winery to obtain ROC certification, and is the third winery to certify to the standard, which publicly debuted in 2020. Long at the vanguard of regenerative viticulture in California, Fetzer Vineyards continues to demonstrate the highest levels of adherence to responsible business and farming practices with this latest achievement. READ MORE…
BriscoeBites officially accepts samples as well as conducts on-site and online interviews. Want to have your wine, winery or tasting room featured? Please visit the Sample Policy page where you can contact me directly. Cheers!
The second edition of Women in Wine and Spirits Awards (WINWSA), the seminal awards created to recognize aspiring women in global beverage industry, has announced its much anticipated “50 List of Influence” for the year 2021.
The top 50 list, whittled down from over 130 nominations from 28 countries includes women who wield power from viticulture, hospitality, distillery, education, design and packaging to media and communications. READ MORE…